Pet owners, particularly those who have domesticated dogs, must often take their pets outside so that the pet may urinate and/or defecate. This process may become difficult when the pet owner lives in a confined environment, such as crowded city areas, or lives in an environment that becomes particularly cold during the year. Additionally, the process may also become difficult when the pet owner lacks mobility or is required to be away from the pet during long portions of the day.
One of the major problems associated with most pet animals may be odors, and usually unpleasant if not obnoxious odors, which may arise from the waste products, such as urine and solid excreta, of the animal. Cats and small dogs may typically require litter boxes or absorbent pads in order to discharge urine and solid waste products. Absorbent pads may also be treated with a scent, attractive to young dogs, which may be used to train, or house break, the animal by inducing where to urinate and defecate. Degradation of the components present in such waste products (e.g., protein, fat, etc.) may generate malodorous byproducts. In addition, urine and/or other exudates usually contain microorganisms that produce the urease enzyme that is responsible for the degradation of urea present in urine to ammonia.
One type of odor absorption technology may include incorporation into the absorbent article of compounds that are known to absorb odors, such as activated carbons, clays, zeolites, silicates, cyclodextrine, ion exchange resins and various mixtures thereof. These compounds may control odor by mechanisms whereby the malodorous compounds and their precursors are physically absorbed. The compounds thereby hinder the exit of the malodorous compounds from absorbent articles. However, such mechanisms may not be completely effective because the formation of the odor itself is not prevented, and thus some odor still may be detected in the product. Also, it is believed that the odor absorbing particles lose odor-trapping efficiency when they become moist, as most absorbent articles do. Furthermore, in order for these compounds to be effective at controlling odor, a high loading of these compounds may be required which increases the cost of the absorbent article, and may tend to adversely affect the absorbency and performance of the absorbent article.